Sunshine Coast Trail October 4th-8th, 2010
 

I recently completed the 1st 50km of the Sunshine Coast Trail. We chose to go from Sarah Point to Powell Lake over 5 days.

Day 1: Sarah Point to Wednesday Lake (12km)
Day 2: Wednesday Lake to Plummer Creek (12.2km)
Day 3: Plummer Creek to Big Sliammon Lake (14.8km)
Day 4: Big Sliammon to Little Sliammon Lake (3km)
Day 5: Little Sliammon Lake to Powell Lake (7km)

[u]Day 1:</u>

We started the day off by leaving Lund via water taxi to Sarah Point. Once at Sarah Point the water taxi pushed up close to the rocks and we jumped off to start our adventure. Low tides, high winds and heavy packs made the leap, well we'll say "interesting".

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The trail was really well market and easy to follow. There were also lots of great view points along the way.

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Our first night was spent at Wednesday lake. There's a small tent sight just off the lake. On the actual lake there was a great picnic/swimming spot with a bench and fire pit. The lake is quite small and very warm. We tried a bit of fishing but there was no action on the lake at all.

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[u]Day 2: </u>

We woke up to a beautiful warm morning. The lake was completely still.
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The trail for day 2 took us through a great mix of your "typical" Sunshine Coast terrain of rocky outcrops and arbutus trees, plus a mix old and new growth forests. The views along this portion of the trail were amazing, although the climb see them was a bit of a killer.

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The campsite at Plummer Creak was great. There was a couple of large tent sights, a gigantic picnic table, and fire pit. Being next to the creek meant there was a quality source of water. The only downside was that it was a bit dark and damp.

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[u]Day 3</u>

This was one of our longest days of the trip (over 14km). The trail was a bit more worn as we made our way closer to civilization and there was the only time we came across anyone else on the trail. Again there was a fantastic variance in terrain. We spent a lot of time traveling though old growth forests. The 1st major point of interest was a bluff that offered a fantastic view.

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The second POI was a small pond and shelter build by the PRPAWS (Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society).

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Along the rest of the way to Sliammon Lake we criss crossed a creek and passed a number of water falls.

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Once we arrived at the lake, finding a flat spot for our tent was't the easiest and this was the only site we camped at that didn't have an outhouse near by. The views of the lake and the picnic site on the lake more than made up for it.

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[u]Day 4</u>

Day 4 was a pretty relaxing day. We hung out at Big Sliammon Lake till about mid day then took the short 3km hike to Little Sliammon Lake.

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Little Sliammon Lake had a great campsite, and another shelter built by PRPAWS. There was also a dock heading out to the lake and someone had left a canoe there complete with paddles.

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The only problem with the site was the location of the fire pit and it's proximity to a larger overturned tree...

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Before retiring for the night we went through the usual routine of pouring water on the fire, stirring the remaining coals and ashes then putting more water on it till was clearing out. Unfortunetley it terns out some embers must have embedded themselves in the the root system before we put the fire out. When we got up in the morning we awoke to find this:

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We spent 3 hours taking water from the lake to put out the fire. After we finally got things under control we hiked out about a couple of kilometers till we could get cell service to call the local fire department. Once we had called the fire department we continued along our way to the end of the trail.

We ended our trip at Shingle Mill Park at Powell Lake. The best part of the park was the marina and the accompanying Shingle Mill Pub! They had the best tasting beer, and burger I've ever had in my life!

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I never knew this trail existed. Thanks for posting this info. It looks like you had a great trip.

The whole trail is 180km, we only did the 1st 50km. It was an amazing trip.

www.sunshinecoast-trail.com

Terrific trip report on an area I've always been interested in. Thanks.

Posthaste

There's a really good canoe trip up there too.

Very nice. I did the stretch from town to Inland lake a few years back. Great few days on the trail.

Great trip report from an area I'm very very familiar with. You are right, Wednesday Lake is a great swimming spot; particularly welcome on hot summer days. I see you drank in the view from Gibraltar, but did you also hike along the bluff to your right? There's a great view of Okeover from there. If not, you can do it next time!

If you're planning on doing the rest of the trail in coming years, I'd be happy to help you out with any information you need. I've done virtually all of the trail on a day hike basis.

Thanks for a great TR R.S! I've underestimated the beauty of this trail - looks like I need to add it to my list....

I did the Powell Forest Canoe Route earlier this summer - yup, it's fantastic.

Great trip report! I only found out about this trail today, definitely worth putting on the list.

Do you happen to know if dogs are allowed on this trail (or on the water taxi, also important!)??

Thanks :)

Great pictures.

We almost ended up living in PR a few yrs back.

Nice article in the Province on the SCT today.

We had a dog with us and it was no problem having him on the trail or the water taxi. The only issue might be getting off the water taxi. It's quite the jump from the boat to the rocks. If it's a small dog (like the one we brought) then you can carry him but a larger dog could be difficult.

Here's the article:
http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Le...253/story.html